Maryland taxpayers have paid $4.4 billion for total Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For that that amount of money, the state could have provided 139,730 four-year scholarships for university students. This year, Maryland’s governor, Martin J. O'Malley, cut $37-million from higher-education spending. (1)
Virginia taxpayers have paid $6.2 billion for total Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For that that amount of money, the state could have provided all 1,051,356 uninsured Virginians with healthcare for a year, 64% of the uninsured for a second year. (2)
District of Columbia taxpayers have paid $978.9 million for total Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For that that amount of money, the state could have provided 16,663 elementary school teachers for one year. The D.C. public school system has only 3,800 teachers, and severe teacher layoffs have recently been announced. (3)
Arizona taxpayers have paid $3.1 billion for total Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For that that amount of money, the state could have provided 23,898 affordable housing units. Arizona has one of the country’s highest foreclosure rates, and one in every 30 homes across Arizona received at least one foreclosure filing during the first half of the 2009. (4)
California taxpayers have paid $28.9 billion for total Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For that that amount of money, the state could have provided 51,461,442 homes with renewable electricity for one year. California has the country’s highest carbon monoxide emissions, releasing 7,710,111 tons of carbon monoxide every year. (5)
Sources:
(1) http://chronicle.com/...
(2) http://covertheuninsured.org/...
(3) http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
(4) http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/...
(5) http://www.scorecard.org/
Click here to read more on related issues on our Winter'09 Peace Letter-The Afghanistan Issue.
Winter'09 Peace Letter-The Afghanistan Issue.